1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to real-time location systems (RTLS) and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for limiting redundant positioning polling from a mobile device in a Real-Time Location System (RTLS).
2. Description of the Related Art
To take advantage of the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices, businesses have developed many uses for tracking a mobile device (or tracking a person carrying the mobile device) within a building, such as a shopping mall or an office building. For example, in a shopping mall, businesses may entice a person carrying a mobile device to shop by sending coupons or sales notices to a mobile device when that mobile device is proximate a particular store or service center. An office manager may need instant information regarding where an employee is located within a large office complex.
Wi-Fi access points (or hotspots) provide a means for determining the location of mobile devices. RTLS provides real time locating of mobile devices by measuring the signal strength of Wi-Fi access points proximate the mobile device. Currently, in RTLS, a mobile device is tracked by continuously monitoring the signal strength from various Wi-Fi access points and reporting the signal strengths to a central server. The central server determines the location of the mobile device and transmits the location back to the mobile device. This is referred to as position polling, or actively sampling the location of the mobile device. However, such continuous reporting between the mobile device and the central server results in an unnecessary reduction in performance because very few location updates received from the mobile device actually correlate to a real positional change of the mobile device. For example, positional polling of the mobile device continues even if a person carrying the mobile device is stationary, for example, in his office and places the mobile device on his desk. As such, positional polling imposes a performance penalty on the system. It consumes excessive power from the mobile device due to establishing network connections with a central server, leading to an undesirable loss of performance and battery life.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus for limiting redundant positioning polling from a mobile device in a Real-Time Location System (RTLS).